Okay folks, I got this working. It seems like this forum is more of a sounding board, as I've almost always figured things out on my own.

I have Vista SP1 and the latest bootcamp drivers. You may not need SP1 or the latest bootcamp drivers for this to work, but I left no stone unturned.

You have to connect the external monitor via a VGA to VGA cable. You then hook up the VGA connector to your Macbook via a VGA to mini-DVI cable (available @ the Applestore). You may also have to play with the Intel Graphics Media control panel to get everything perfect. I had to adjust the aspect ratio to get full screen on my 24".

When I tried to connect the external monitor via a DVI -> DVI -> mini-DVI, it didn't work. It also didn't work with DVI -> VGA -> mini-DVI.

Now it works, with minidvi-dvi-screen cable. its the second time it works. I downloaded the latest drivers for windows, intel965, bootcamp, restarted 10 times in the process, I just started windows and the other screen came to life. its a strange problem, dont know if it will show up again.

I bought a minidvi to vga cable, connected it to my vga cable for the screen and it works now. Strange that the minidvi to dvi cable to my dvi-input didn't work. I have sent a email to Intel telling them of this bug.

Yes, it only worked for me via mini DVI to VGA. Vista also has a lot of quirks that you figure out as you go along.

For example, sometimes when I have my 24" external connected to my Macbook, the resolution on the 24" does not look right. Only when I start up Vista with the external monitor connected does the external monitor display the correct resolution (and Vista turns off my Macbook display).

The mini-DVI to DVI(D) adpater issue is causing me some heartache and a fix does not look likely soon. It does work under MAC OS X however this not what I need for my work day to day. Also a VGA signal at 1680 x 1050 gets a bit noisy and forget it if you use an analogue KVM. I noticed that some DVI issues where on the 'issues resolved' list on the latest intel driver (6th August 2008) however it does not fix this. Those of you with a DVI-I or DVI-A external monitor maybe able to get this to work withe the mini-DVI to VGA adapter and an additional VGA>DVI adapter. Those of us who require DVI-D are just plain gubbed by the look of it. Does anyone have any feedback from the manufacturers on this?

Strangely enough I was able to get an external monitor - a Sony Bravia Hidef TV - to work straight away using Vista on a Macbook. I just used the mini- Video cable supplied with the MacBook. For weeks and even months I had no trouble.

Then I decided to install service pack 1.

After that I could not get the external monitor to work reliably. Sometimes it would be there; sometimes not.

I uninstalled SP1 and, after a few hiccoughs, I have got it working reliably again by using the Nvidia control panel.

Regardless, I am also trying to use an external monitor while booting into Vista and it seems I don't have a Nvidia Control Panel like most of you. I have since upgraded to the latest Boot Camp 2.1 tools but with not change. In Vista device manager, my graphics driver is listed as a "generic VGA" adapter, I am sure this is the cause but have been unable to point the device to use a correct driver.

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